Premium NHL Picks: January 7th

We have got two picks today:

Carolina Hurricanes @ Florida Panthers

Fifth meeting between the clubs and each of them have two wins in four games. In the last meeting on Jan 3rd, Florida Panthers had won 4-3 in Carolina. Canes had beaten the Panthers with the same score back in December in Florida.

Panthers lost on home ice on Wednesday night when they faced the Thrashers. Despite outshooting their opponents 35-31, powerplay failed for the Panthers on two chances which could have made the difference in a 3-2 defeat. 

Powerplay has been a huge problem for the Panthers this season. They are the worst powerplay team in the league at 9.3%

Canes are coming off a loss in New York against the Rangers. They have two losses in last five games. 

Carolina will have to play without Tlusty, Jokinen and Pitkanen as these players have been injured.

Panthers have no new injuries. Vokoun is expected to start in goal for them while we see Cam Ward taking the day off and Justin Peters hitting the ice for the first time this year.

I will side with Panthers in this one. Canes look to be skidding after their winning streak and Panthers did not lose their latest home games by big deficits. They have been playing pretty good lately and they already beat the Canes 4-3 in Carolina on Monday night. I think they will be able to wrap this one up in regulation time.

PICK: FLORIDA PANTHERS TO WIN [in regulation] [LOSS]

2 units @ 1.92

NY Rangers @ Dallas Stars

Stars have been playing much better on road as of late. They just beat the Blues and Blackhawks in regulation times in their last two games. They started the season strong on home ice but suddenly they are without a win at American Airlines Center in two games, suffering defeats at the hands of Red Wings and Canucks.

Rangers have lost two in their last five games but they are coming to this game with a 2-1 victory at Staples Center over Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night. 

Henrik Lundqvist will be in goal once again for the Rangers after allowing 2 or less goals in his last 3 starts.

Dallas goaltender Lehtonen has also allowed only two goals in his last two starts and won both of them. I expect good goaltending on both sides tonight.

Not only the goaltenders, Rangers play quite defensively on road. The total has hone under in 5 of their last 5 road games. This is mainly because of their conservative strategy and the success of Henrik Lundqvist. 

I will go with UNDER in this one as I believe Rangers will be controlling the pace of this game. Stars lost two in a row at home and they will surely want to turn things around tonight. They have a momentum from two victories on road but it won't be easy tonight as they will be the side attacking for the victory. They seem to be handling offensive teams especially on road but they have suffered losses against strong opponents at home, like the 4-1 loss against the Canucks and 7-3 loss against the Wings.

PICK: UNDER 5.5 GOALS [WIN]

3 units @ 1.75